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'This is our policy': New Scientist after 3000 issues

A lot has changed in science, and science journalism, over the past 58 years – but our responsibilities remain the same

| Leader
16 December 2014

“MAY we introduce ourselves and explain our aims? It can be done quite briefly. The New Scientist is published for all those men and women who are interested in scientific discovery and in its industrial, commercial and social consequences. We who launch it believe we are doing so at a time when the need for such a magazine is obvious and urgent.” So began the leader in our very first issue, published 58 years and one month before the one you are now reading – our 3000th.

A lot has changed. Our first issue was monochrome, dense and sober, with few hints of the vibrant design ethos we strive for today. There’s little that would strike a modern reader as light-hearted, although it included a crossword by way of diversion. So does this issue, but the 2014 edition was created by a computer (see “Try the hardest crossword ever set by a computer“).

It’s not just the magazine itself that has changed&colon; so has the context in which we operate. Most strikingly, women were hardly mentioned in our debut; today, we are closer to gender parity both among those who produce our content and those who feature in it, though there’s still a way to go.

Other things haven’t changed. Our original mission statement is still quite appropriate. It’s an easy one to stick to, given how interesting science and its consequences are – even if we aren’t the ones labouring at the coalface of discovery.

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“Scientists cherish the few true facts that they might be lucky enough to generate over the course of their careers,” remarked an academic embedded with the New Scientist team for a month this summer. “Journalists are fact-hungry. They will procure several precious facts from a handful of different scientists before breakfast.”

Life on Mars

Fortunately, those facts are in plentiful supply, although they sometimes take a long time to arrive. Our first issue included a long piece ruminating over the possibility of life on Mars – we’re still trying to work that out today. Many of the concerns of 1956 are distinctly familiar&colon; the viability of nuclear power, the persistence of the art-science divide, the extent of glacial melting and so on.

But progress marches on even when facts are elusive. Back then, we could only view Mars from afar; today we have agents reporting from its surface, even if they are robots. Another robot was at the centre of our favourite story of the year, as the Philae lander made a daring descent to comet 67/P. However, it was the human drama on the ground that transfixed millions around the world (see “2014 review&colon; The most awesome stories of the year“). Next year will see breakthroughs that would have been flights of fancy back then, from suspended animation to virtual reality (see “2015 preview&colon; Pluto gets ready for its first close-up“).

Ultimately, New Scientist – we dropped the definite article in 1961 – has endured because science and technology endure. Both are still vital to a nation’s prosperity, and they will continue to be so even if nations themselves cease to exist (see “End of nations&colon; Is there an alternative to countries?“).

So there is still an “obvious and urgent” need for our magazine – whether in print, online or elsewhere. This year has seen continuing concern about antibiotic resistance, pandemic disease, climate change and abuses of technology – issues we have covered for many years. And while some scientists have become polished communicators, others have not. Our first issue quotes one Mr Thistle, then PR man for Canada’s natural research council. “I know a lot of scientists whom I love,” he said, “but whose operations in the English tongue still remind me of an elephant on stilts – ponderously inelegant.”

That first leader ended with this promise about the task ahead&colon; “Our endeavour will be to perform it conscientiously – and readably.” That’s still what we endeavour to do today. Do join us for our next 3000 issues.

This article appeared in print under the headline “‘This is our policy'”